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Jolly Green Giant
 
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Jolly Green Giant (Hardcover)

by David Bellamy (Author), Mark Booth (Editor)
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Century; First Edition edition (12 Sep 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0712683593
  • ISBN-13: 978-0712683593
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 377,963 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
David Bellamy may not be on our screens as much lately, but there are few who will fail recognise him as one of the most popular names in natural history.

His autobiography, Jolly Green Giant, proves to be every bit as entertaining as anything he's written: it's a fund of hilarious stories (often refreshingly self-deprecating), along with a nicely wrought picture of his childhood growing up in Carshalton during the Second World War. Most of all, though, it's an evocation of the author's love of nature, communicated here with vividness and detail.

His skills have translated into books with considerable ease and such bestsellers as Blooming Bellamy, Botanic Man and Wilderness Britain have been shot through with all the qualities that distinguish his broadcasting, along with a quietly impressive marshalling of the myriad facts that make his work so authoritative.

Although one's heart drops at the subtitle to this book The Autobiography of David J Bellamy OBE, Hon FLS, An Englishman, any thoughts that this might be a breast-beating list of his accomplishments, or (worse) a burst of Little Englander jingoism, are quickly dispelled. Bellamy tells us of his very public battles with big corporations over the environment and the outspokenness that has so often got him into trouble, with only the barest hint of self-aggrandisement. But his epic struggles and odysseys, brilliantly communicated love of nature and the many fascinating portraits of the idiosyncratic and eccentric personalities he's encountered over the years make for a quite fascinating read. --Barry Forshaw

Review
The long-awaited autobiography of Britain's favourite botanist.

Familiar to us from our television screens for the last 30 years, the guru of natural history returns to public prominence with this thoroughly entertaining and absorbing memoir of life as a botanist, broadcaster and writer who has travelled all over the world in search of his beloved plants. Bellamy was born in Surrey to a respectable lower middle-class family and grew up during the Second World War. Despite the inevitable privations he seems to have had a wonderful childhood, collecting shrapnel and unexploded bombs and roaming the countryside, developing a deep love for its quiet and stillness. Possible careers included medicine and (remarkably) ballet, but in the end an academic life beckoned and he became a lecturer at Durham University before finding fame and fortune. Bellamy is clearly a natural writer, with a gift for humorous, often self-deprecating anecdotes that makes the pages turn very quickly. Especially interesting is his discussion of the various ecological causes he has championed over the years, even going to prison for them on one occasion. By the end of the book the reader feels not only a great liking for Bellamy the man but a deep admiration for the work he has done, and a realization of how much more there is still to do. (Kirkus UK)

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4.0 out of 5 stars Great English Eccentric, 24 Jul 2003
By Graham Hedges (Ilford, Essex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
David Bellamy is one of the great English eccentrics. As a television performer, he invites comparison with other eccentrics such as Patrick Moore, Magnus Pyke, and Lionel Fanthorpe, all of whom have popularised their particular fields of study for a mass audience. In this autobiography he provides a fascinating account of his varied career as botanist, environmentalist, and media performer. There is a detailed - tbough sometimes bewildering - description of the various environmental causes that he has supported during his long career. There is an equally interesting account of the author's large, multi-racial, adopted family. I was, personally, very interested in Bellamy's account of his early religious upbringing in a Baptist family and church. In this environment he aspired to - but never quite achieved - the same kind of "Damascus Road" experience that others described. His later discovery of botany, however, seems to have played a similar role as a turning point in his life. Nowadays, Bellamy still describes himself as a Christian. There is a fascinating transcript of a millennium sermon that he gave at Southwark Cathedral, though I think that he assumes too readily that a desire to convert others to a particular religious viewpoint can only be understood in terms of a wish to dominate and exercise power over others. As someone who enjoyed using the I-SPY books back in the 1950s and 1960s, I appreciated Bellamy's account of his own early experience of I-SPY and his later stint in the 1980s as "Chief I-SPY", charged with updating the books for a new generation. All in all, "Jolly Green Giant" is an entertaining and informative biography and the author has much to teach us on environmental and conservation issues.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Great English Eccentric, 12 Jul 2003
By Graham Hedges (Ilford, Essex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
David Bellamy is one of the great English eccentrics and as a television performer he invites comparison with such people as Patrick Moore, Magnus Pyke and Lionel Fanthorpe. He is well known as an environmental campaigner and his autobiography gives a fascinating - though sometimes bewildering - account of the many causes with which he has been involved. Equally interesting are the chapters describing his large multi-racial adopted family. I was, personally, very interested in the chapters describing his early religious upbringing in a Baptist family and church, where the young David aspired to - but never quite achieved - the same sort of "Damascus Road" conversion that others described. Nowadays, Bellamy still describes himself as a Christian, and there is a fascinating transcript of a sermon that he delivered in Southwark Cathedral, though I think he assumes too readily that a desire to convert others to a religious belief can only be explained in terms of a wish to dominate and exercise power. As someone who enjoyed using the I-SPY books as a child I was pleased to read of Bellamy's own fascination with the series, and his brief time as "Chief I-SPY" in the 1980s when he updated the books for a new generation. Bellamy has much to say to us on environmental and conservation issues and I hope this book will be widely read.
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5.0 out of 5 stars For he is the Jolly Green Giant!, 13 May 2003
I was more than pleasenly surprised when I picked up this book. I felt as if David Bellamy was somehow familliar to me even though I knew very little about his actual life and acomplishments. I guess I always thought of him as a man with so much energy and childlike enthusiasm about Plants, trees, animals and pretty much everything in between. The book is brilliantly written with both humour and interesting factual narration. His character shines, he is just as enthusiastic in writing if not more so. I never knew his life had been so rich in experience, his wealth of knowledge is amazing. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time, it feels more like an adventure story than a factual biography, warm, interesting and cosy. I thoroughly enjoyed this book even if it did come as quite a surprise! David Bellamy you really are a Jolly Green Giant.
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